In the Pile it Goes
by CryptIXeeper
Summary: Bits and Bunches of Could have and Would have story ideas, enjoy it with your leisure! You're welcome to the ideas.


**A/N: This story is old as heck and I can't quite remember when I wrote it. Poke fun at is as you will.**

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It was one of those days, calm and peaceful, as pleasant lulling's of the wind drifted through an open shop door. A sleepy drone of noise from the crowd outside added to the sedate mood of the shop as its owner began his opening routine.

If anyone were present within the quiet building, they would smell the peaceful and warming aroma of Jasmine tea from a teapot while hearing a happy hum from the elder making it.

The elder, with a content look upon his face, slowly poured the tea into his personal cup, before setting the teapot down with care and calmly sipping his cup while quietly reminiscing upon his past.

With a pleasant sigh, the old man began to muse to himself out loud, perhaps it was to the spirits, or perhaps to his dead son, or perhaps it was to alleviate an anxiety he had been feeling for the past week; nevertheless, he still mused.

"How long has it been?" the elder questioned out loud, his old gravelly voice echoing throughout the store.

A month. That was the amount of time that had passed since the 'Hundred-Year War' had finally ended its ravages across the elemental nations. A month since the avatar had defeated Firelord Ozai, and a month since the Fire Nations new ruler, Firelord Zuko, had gained the throne.

He had been keeping an ear out, you see. The elder had waited within this shop, spending his days serving and drinking tea, waiting for his figurative son to come to him for advice. But Zuko was stubborn, the old man had realized as much even before he began traveling with his nephew. Zuko needed to make his own decisions; he needed to personally seek him out.

Giving Zuko unneeded advice would only serve to send him away. As it was said, 'A good ruler asks for wisdom, so that he may gain wisdom.' To do any less would stifle his nephew's development into the ruler he needed to be for his people.

Now it just came down to waiting, but he didn't mind, he had as much time as the spirits would allow.

How Ironic it was that just when he finished that thought, a glowing green oval the size of a Aang's lemur appeared over his tea table. The spirits had other plans, it seemed.

With a sigh, the elder stood. His old bones creaking as he walked towards his room, quicker than usual; the spirits were not ones to be kept waiting after all.

He had gathered the essentials; clothes, food, battle armor (As you could never be too careful when it came to what the spirits had in store for you), and tea. He would have to take the travel tea set.

The old man sighed forlornly as he approached the green oval and caught sight of his store tea set. It had been his favorite, a gift from Zuko inlaid with Jade carvings portraying dragons.

Shuffling the travelers pack further upon his shoulder, the elder reached for the cup he had been previously using, and poured himself another cup of soothing Jasmine tea.

He took a small sip, letting its warmth calm his worries as he decided to take the tea pot with him as well, before slowly striding towards the green portal.

All the while, sipping soothing Jasmine tea.

"My servant who exists somewhere in the universe! Oh Divine, beautiful and powerful familiar spirit! I wish and assert from the bottom of my heart! Answer to my guidance!"

An explosion enveloped the field where of gathered students. Louise, of course, expected yet another failed spell, quite alike those before, to take place again as she had begun to truly believe she was "Louise the Zero'.

The dust from her explosion began to clear and gasps from the students told her beforehand that she had indeed summoned something this time. She could see its outline, a large humped creature, moving in the darkness of the explosions smog. Louise was gaining hope, perhaps she wasn't a failure, that creature was probably more powerful than even Tabitha's Rhyme Dragon, she wasn't a failure!

Of course, that hope was quickly crushed as the smoke began to clear.

The being that she had summoned was…human…

How?! How was this possible?! A human of all things, and an old one at that, the man looked positively venerable with old age.

"This…is my Divine and beautiful and powerful familiar?" Louise whispered to herself, her words positively dripping with self-loathing.

The man…was old, he was old and fat; dressed in green and brown travel clothes more fitting towards a common beggar, than any other position in society's hierarchy. The old man had a large brown bag slung over his shoulder while in one hand he carried a…ordinate teapot, while in the other, an ordinate tea cup.

But Louise ignored those small details and chose to pay attention to the details at large. He was old, he was fat, and he was dressed like a beggar. She…was a failure. Perhaps, if she abandoned her dignity and pleaded to Mr. Colbert with puppy dog eyes, she would be allowed to try again.

It was then that Louise took note of the jeers and all out laughter coming from her precious, magic using, classmates.

Louise closed her eyes in shame, and felt them begin to water with unshed tears. She would not cry, she would not allow it.

"Mr. Colbert" Louise began in a sickly sweet tone, Opening her eyes and turning towards the man with what she hoped looked watery puppy dog eyes while clasping her hands together in a most undignified manner, "Can I try the summons again?"

However, her pleads went ignored as Mr. Colbert was instead vocally chastising the class for laughing.

Turning back towards Louise with a suffering sigh, Mr. Colbert took off his glasses and began cleaning them with his robe, "Ms. Valliere, could you please continue on with the ritual."

Staring at her teacher with watery eyes, Louise began, "B-but"

"Now, Ms. Valliere"

Her plead ended then and there. Louise then realized, that she was, in fact, a failure, as she slowly walked towards the old man staring at her with a frown on his face. She would not cry, she couldn't allow it. She would cry when she went to her room, like she always did. She would never let them see her weak, it was her mother's rule, the 'Rule of Steel', and it would be followed no matter what.

And so Louise walked towards the old man, water clouding her eyes and face growing red.

The inside of the green, whatever it was, could be called empty. Perhaps the spirits were putting him in reserve, and he would appear in the world again when it needed his words. However, instead of pride, such thoughts brought a cold feeling to the man's stomach. He would serve the spirits, yes, but they were asking too much if his suspicions were correct.

Thankfully, such thoughts were not the case, as the dark emptiness began to be filled with light and gray smoke along sounds of a muffled blast.

He was where he needed to be, it seemed. Taking note of his surroundings while sipping the tea to calm his nerves, he discovered that he was in fact, not as alone as he would have liked to think.

As the smoke began to clear, and laughter began to fill the air, he began to get a better view of the world around him.

Teenagers, he would assume, surrounded him in every direction with what looked like a balding man in front of him. But their hair attracted his attention, colors he had never thought possible littered the heads of those surrounding him: red, purple, yellow, gold, *PINK*. Perhaps they were, in fact, spirits in human form; like that of the moon spirit with silvery-white hair.

The buildings, he noted, were unlike any he had seen in his life. They were astoundingly foreign, and did not hold any of the tell signs towards any of the nations.

It was during these musings, that he caught a flash of pink within his eyes peripheral. A young lady, perhaps twelve, was speaking with the blading man in what looked like panic. Ah, now that he took note of it, all the children here were wearing a specific set of clothing, much like the students of a Fire Nation Academy.

He was at a school, he realized. Then took another sip of tea as he looked towards the balding man in a new light, he must be the teacher. Furthermore, the panicking girl…

Taking stock of the laughing students a second time, he noticed the exotic creatures around and within their grasp. Along with giant blue lizard, perhaps a cousin to the dragons of his world, certainly just as intelligent if its eyes told him anything. So then where was the pink headed girl's creature?

With a little extra thought, the realization came that it was in fact 'him' that was the creature of the girl. His theory began to gain weight when he factored in the laughing students, the panicking girl, the creatures surrounding them, as well as the now stressed face of the teacher as he began yelling at the class.

Looking at the girl closer, he saw water begin to collect in her eyes as well as poorly masked shame, obvious as the light of Agni shining upon her face. It was clear now, what the spirits wished him too do.

After quick words with her teacher, it appeared the girl was resigned as she began to slowly approach him. Her face and expression reminded him, in a way, of Toph and Zuko when they were forced to do something against their will.

Lightly, he set down his travelers pack along with his prized tea pot, and purposefully made his way towards the pink haired girl, who stopped in surprise and stared at him in obvious distain. Getting the little girl to laugh at his introduction would be a hard one.

What would he try, the friendly Uncle approach, wise mentor approach, or a combination…friendly Uncle, he decided, the girl looked like she needed a friend more than advice at the moment.

He tried to keep his expression friendly and welcoming as he approached the girl, only to feel a tugging on his traveling robes, as if she was beckoning him to bend down to her height. Of course, he complied, only to hear a string of words he could not recognize as well as what looked like a kiss quickly directed towards his face.

If it wasn't for his quick reflexes in stopping the girls face with both his hands, she probably would have done just that.

Gently pushing her head away as she tried to kiss him again, as well as moving to stand in order to avoid further attempts, he jovially said, "As much as you think you might be attracted to me, I think you are perhaps bit too young, and remind me of my figurative niece a bit too much." After which, he patted her head.

The old man was patting her head, Even if she didn't understand a word of what he was saying, she knew what the old man had said, and it pissed her off. She moved to kick his shin only for her to realize too late that she was in fact kicking an old man, and veered her kick to the right, missing her previous target and slipping on the grass, toppling down onto the side of her back.

Mr. Colbert, on the other hand, was more reserved in his actions towards the old man, muttering words like impossible, and language barrier. Indeed, perhaps this situation was impossible, Louise mused from her lowly position on the ground, perhaps this was just a nightmare and she was only dreaming her failure.

That would be too much to ask, however, as Mr. Colbert walked over to help her up while chanting a translation spell and casting it on the old man with quick efficiency.

"Sir" The professor began with a sigh, "now that you understand us, could you please let Ms. Valliere complete the contract?"

"Contract?" The old man crossed his arms in amusement, "That certainly didn't look like a contract to me. A kiss is best between a man and his wife, not between a child and an old man."

Oh dear, Ms. Valliere looked like she was going to make something explode at that comment. Quickly stopping her hand from finishing whatever botched spell she planned to complete, Mr. Colbert plucked the wand from her hand for safe keeping. No more explosions till this misunderstanding was confirmed and done with, the laughing students in the background were not helping matters and he didn't need Ms. Valliere fanning the flames further.

"Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding…" The professor paused, at a loss on how to address the elder.

"Oh!" the elder said with a surprised laugh, "Pardon me, you may call me Iroh, young man."

Now it was Mr. Colbert's turn to laugh, "Ah, I haven't been called young since I lost my hair. I'm Professor Jean Colbert by the way." He finished while holding out his hand.

Iroh took the man's hand in his own and began shaking it, "Oh don't be too hard on yourself Professor, I'm surprised I still have my hair, all things considered. It's the curse of being a man, I think."

Both the men were interrupted from their introductions as a certain pink haired girl began to clear her throat rather loudly. Embarrassed, they both coughed uneasily into their hands before going back to the matter at hand.

"You were saying about a contract professor?" Iroh asked embarrassedly.

Professor Colbert cleared his throat in a startled manner, "Ah yes, well, you see Iroh, my students were participating in the spring-time familiar summoning rituals. As you can see from the various familiars, such as Ms. Tabitha's excellent summoning of a Rhyme Dragon over there." He beckoned with his hand before continuing, "Ms. Valliere, appears to have, well, summoned you as her familiar."

Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully at Mr. Colbert's words, "A familiar you say? I'm afraid I haven't the slightest idea what a familiar is, would you perhaps be willing to explain." He asked, his question subtly sounding like an order, despite the cheer in its tone.

"Well" Mr. Colbert began, "A familiar is usually some sort of animal or magical creature, contracted with the summoner to be their servant and aid them in gathering materials, or fight in combat."

"I see" Iroh said as he continued to stroke his beard, "And I suppose you were going to allow young Ms. Valliere here to contract me as her familiar despite the fact that I am, indeed, not an animal." Iroh finished with a raised eyebrow.

"In simple words, yes" The professor began apologetically, "A human familiar hasn't, in the history of the rituals, been summoned by anyone to my knowledge. You are the first, and I wasn't sure if you were human...or well…something else." He finished lamely.

"I'm sure." Iroh stated with a chuckle before turning his head slightly towards Louise, looking at her from the corner of his eyes as she began to tear in the eyes.

With a sigh, Iroh continued, "What would happen if I were to…deny the contract?"

Mr. Colbert chuckled uneasily, "Then Ms. Valliere would be taken to see the headmaster…probably sent home."

Looking at Louise's eyes, tearing up like someone just stole her favorite toy, Iroh was at a loss. The old man knew that he was sent here to aid the girl, that much was certain. Furthermore, the girl reminded him of Zuko right after the incident with his brother. She would need his help, that much was for certain.

With a sigh, he resigned himself to the spirits intentions, "Would there be a way to complete this contract without a kiss?"

The look on her face was worth more than all the gold in the world.


End file.
